Wolves And The Radio

Wolves And The Radio

Written by: PP on 19/01/2011 02:53:39

One of the first punk rock records in the new year comes from Wolves And The Radio, located in Brighton, US. Their self-titled debut album has caused some buzz in the scene before its release for a number of reasons. For starters, they combine the dynamic post-hardcore of Hot Water Music, complete with rough, gravelly but melodic vocals together with a decent amount of influence from Swingin' Utters, resulting in a punk rock cocktail that's littered with references to bands like Off With Their Heads, The Flatliners and so forth. Basically, they own a sound that's about as working class, blue-collar punk rock as it gets.

Similar to all the bands mentioned in the first paragraph, Wolves And The Radio songs are rich in texture. While three chord, edgy punk rock guitars are a big part of their sound, the band have extensive sections where the guitars explore different melodic tones and semi-technical passages that add intricacy to their sound. When you have their type of gruff vocalist shouting melodically on top, the result is a very honest and convincing sound. That there are small glitches and wrong notes audible across the record only adds to its charm. Another new band that recently played with similar ideas is Frank And Earnest, another is Attack In Black on "Marriage", two bands whose influence on this record is doubtful, but the parallels pop up consistently nonetheless. "Kellegra" and "Foundations", for instance, use a similar happy, yet oddly melancholic approach to the vocals as the former band, whereas the explosive dynamics of the latter band can be found on a song like "Destination Nowhere".

Based on the recommendations so far, you should be able to make up your mind fairly well whether or not Wolves And The Radio might be for you. The truth is, they may not be as instantly catchy as a band like Off With Their Heads or The Flatliners, nor own the same consistency in songwriting, but there are a ton of tracks on their debut that warrant lots and lots of repeat listens. More interestingly, the production is extremely rough and unpolished, which gives the record a big part of its charm, for sure, but you can expect the talent displayed here to manifest into something great by album two, provided they are able to use more money in recording. It's going to be a double-edged sword, however, losing some of the grit and 'working class punk' sound versus gaining a clearer and bigger sound. It'll turn out good, I'm sure, just like this record.

7

Download: Kellegra, The Other Shoreline, Foundations
For the fans of: Off With Their Heads, The Flatliners, Frank And Earnest, Swingin' Utters
Listen: Myspace

Release date 11.01.2011
Anchorless Records

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